The Boy Who Wept By Starlight
by ellymelly
Summary: The 11th Doctor and River investigate a mysterious life sign coming from a dying world. Together, they descend into its madness, ecstasy and hell.
1. Marriage of Despair

**THE BOY WHO WEPT BY STARLIGHT**

**MARRIAGE OF DESPAIR**

"Ah, the glow of a dying world," the Doctor exhaled, leaning out of the Tardis door as she drifted through the void. He was riveted by the strange marriage of despair and beauty taking place in front of him. Half-a-dozen light-years away, a world was burning.

"Is it meant to be purple?" River asked, perched on the floor with her legs dangling out into nothingness. She was flicking through a thick book, trying to find the world's name from a directory of stars and their assorted worlds. "It never ceases to amaze me that for all the wonder of the Time Lord empire – you still favour books."

"Books are cool..." his face fell in a pout. He was wearing that damn fez again, the red hat slipping dangerously close to falling off his head.

"Books are _heavy_," River easily countered, as she checked the star's position. It was a blue giant, boiling a long way from the exploding planet. Even so, its immense mass and gravity tides were ripping the poor planet to pieces. Infanticide – of sorts. Galactic murder.

"Honestly River," he gripped the door in defeat, "I bring you to one of the most beautiful sights in the universe and you're down there – _reading_."

"I already said it was pretty."

"Pretty? _Beautiful – stunning – pulchritudinous – ravishing._"

River looked up from her book with a disapproving expression.

"Okay – maybe not ravishing."

"Better not be." River found what she was looking for, her scarlet nail tracing a line of text. _"Unknown World, K29-W system. Only satellite of blue giant star. Planet death -" _she checked her watch, _"-today." _River pointed at the scene in front of them, another gasp of dying world shedding out into the darkness. _"Star death, one billion years from now."_ She snapped the book closed and looked up expectantly at the Doctor.

"You've got that look..." he said suspiciously.

River tilted her head slightly, blonde curls bouncing. "What look?"

"The, 'can we do something very unwise and most likely dangerous' look."

The Doctor shifted his gaze between River and the burning purple mass behind. There was something about that world that stuck in his throat. It was _unfinished_. All things come to an end but not without running their proper course. He could feel it too, Time was calling out to the Tardis and to him. His Tardis didn't picks worlds at random, she always took him to where he _needed_ to be; the epilogue or prologue of other people's stories.

"Fine," he finally agreed. "But we're not stopping at the gift shop this time. Swear it..."

River raised her hands in surrender. "No shopping, I promise."

* * *

It was remarkably easy for River to keep her promise. The planet was barren.

"Oh my..." River breathed, gazing up at the black carpet above the world, littered with stars. "It's like being on Earth's Moon."

The Doctor, dressed in his usual tailored suit pants, white shirt, red suspenders and matching bow tie; hadn't bothered with a jacket. The air was dry and warm. Several inches of sand crunched underfoot and beneath that, fresh volcanic rock. The world was young and old – reformed and gnarled by layers of violence. A half-hearted sweep of mountains loomed off to the side and in front of them was nothing save the gentle arc of the horizon.

"There's a forcefield keeping a thin layer of atmosphere in place. Transparent – see? Not enough atoms in the sky for the sun's light to bounce off and create pretty coloured sky. It's just – black."

"I quite like it," River strolled with her head still tilted upwards. "It's _alien_."

"Everything is 'alien' to you, my dear," he pointed out. She swatted him sharply. "Sorry."

"Take off that damn hat – you look like a pet monkey."

The Doctor reached up, protectively stroking his hat. "No. The Fez is cool."

_'Cool'_ was his word of the month and if he said it one more time, River was going to handcuff him to something disagreeable. _And there he went_, wandering off into the desert.

"Doctor?" River followed, crouching down beside the Doctor. He was staring intensely at a trail of footprints heading off in the direction of the mountains. "I thought this world was abandoned?"

"No," the Doctor brushed his hand through the sand. It was warm, heat radiating out of the ground. The warmth certainly wasn't coming from the distant blue star. It was coming from _below_, from the liquid core of the planet spinning in fiery vortices. "The Tardis detected a single life form."

"A person?"

"I don't know. It was more of a ghost – an impression spread over the world. I'm not even sure if it's sentient. Life is a broad definition." He placed both palms to the sand. "There's two hundred years until this world breaks apart but you can already feel it shaking."

A grin spread over River's lips. "You think you can save it – and here I was thinking we'd stopped for a bit of idle sight-seeing."

"There's nothing in the laws of the universe to prevent us from doing both." He straightened up and gazed over to the mountains. "Let's idly sight-see in this general direction..."

* * *

Though unimpressive from the plains, the gentle mountains proved onerous. What they lacked in height was overcompensated with slopes of chalk-like sand, sheer cliffs and burning cracks in the earth where fire bubbled to the surface. The footprints continued and the Doctor followed them, eventually dropping to his hands and knees to claw up the final dune.

River and the Doctor were made filthy by the dirt. It was grey, sometimes bordering on violet and so fine that it stuck to everything. They coughed out the residue in their lungs, eyes watering with purple tears.

"I think I'm done sight-seeing now..." River coughed from behind, momentarily vanishing in a puff of dirt as she slipped a few feet backwards. The angle of the slope was deceptive. When the Doctor looked back over his shoulder, River was perfectly silhouetted against the black sky with no sign of the sweeping plains below.

"Adventure is what we do," the Doctor insisted, that irritating grin on his face. His Fez was annoyingly untainted, still perched on his brown mop of hair. "Remember the Six Cities of Carnivorous Fruit Trees? Whole planet of tiny ant-people worshipping plants accidentally dropped by a space ship – remarkable!"

River was about to reply with a quip about there being more meritorious things to explore when she saw a small, emaciated boy sitting cross-legged, staring out over the lands below. "Doctor..." she murmured, nodding at the child.

"Ah, our mysterious life form, I presume."


	2. The Artist

**THE ARTIST**

"Is that a human child?" River asked, standing behind the Doctor.

The boy had not moved. Cross-legged on the ground, he continued to gaze at the dying world, transfixed by every swirl of dust and flicker of starlight. He was more statue than child, eyes entirely black with no colourful iris to wrap around their voids.

"I doubt it," the Doctor knelt down beside the child. "The Tardis didn't recognise the life sign and – well, does he _look_ human to you?"

"If I remember your words correctly," River replied, "the definition of human is broad and variable."

"Not this time, Dr Song." The Doctor shifted beside the boy. "Hello?" he offered, not quite sure how to start. "Very nice planet you have here – colourful – lots of sand. Do you have a name? I'm The Doctor, this is my companion-"

River swatted the Doctor over the back of the head.

"_Wife_," he amended, "Professor River Song."

"_The only water in the forest is the river..."_ the boy whispered.

River and the Doctor turned to each other, faces etched with worry. Either the child was a telepath or – something else. Something the Doctor hadn't seen and River hadn't read about.

"Y-Yes," River stuttered slightly. "How did you know that?"

The child did not reply. He wasn't sitting still as initially thought but swaying ever so slightly as though in a trance.

"Come on now," the Doctor nudged the boy gently with his shoulder. "Everyone has a name."

"Your name is – shrouded," the boy startled them by glancing over his shoulder, eyes locking with his two guests. They were _old_ eyes, like the Doctor's. "A name in darkness, a name without light or soul – you buried your name – locked all the doors."

The Doctor peered deep into those black eyes. He'd seen monsters, madmen, angels and demons. This child was none of these.

"You can call me, 'The Doctor'. I know it's only a title but it can pass as a name."

The boy smiled.

River felt a chill run down her spine. There was something very wrong with this world. "Doctor, maybe we should go?" she whispered.

The Doctor stared at the child. He was a mystery – the most dangerous thing a Time Lord could find. _Love a good mystery._ "What _are_ you?" he whispered, tilting his head slightly as though inspecting prey. "Come on," the Doctor baited the creature. "You can tell me. I'm the champion of strange creatures – rescuer of universal oddities. Saved a city of shadows once."

"I am in no need of rescuing," the boy insisted. "The mind, like this world, is a prison – all I require is entertainment."

The boy vanished, flickering out of existence like a dying image on a TV. The Doctor waved his hand through the space where the boy had been but found nothing but empty, desert air.

"Odd... mildly concerning," he muttered.

"Can we go now, Doctor?" River Song asked. Travelling across the universe was fun and dangerous, she knew that but every now and then they bit off more than they could chew – this was one of those times.

The Doctor agreed. "Think we better." He took her hand and tugged her back down the ravaged sand.

The ground beneath their feet trembled again. River looked up at the blue star, drifting toward the horizon. "What did he mean, 'the mind is a prison – like this planet' – do you think someone put him here?"

"Possibly. What if you were a race of creatures and one of you went mad – brilliant – but mental and you couldn't find it in your heart to destroy them? Instead, you find them a world and leave them there with no escape. A prison without walls – a cell without boundaries."

"That doesn't sound very kind," River pointed out. "I'd rather die than be trapped in a prison. Trust me – been there, done that."

_Twice. _Something flared deep in the Doctor's eyes – _sorrow_. He shook it off. "Either way, I'd like to know more about this creature before we interfere. Wait – hold on, I've forgotten where I've parked again."

The Doctor came to a stop in the middle of the sand. He frowned, looking about for his trusty blue box but the Tardis was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm sure I put her here somewhere – _River, where did I park?_"

"Right here..." River whispered, pointing to the square indent in the sand.

"Oh," the Doctor swallowed hard.

"I don't like this, Doctor."

"Thinking – thinking..." he didn't sound too worried yet – unsettled, but not in panic mode. "You can't steal a Tardis, old girl would never allow it."

"She'd slap you if she heard you say that."

"Already has..." he grinned proudly.

"Take it that's a story for later," she eyed him suspiciously.

"If you're good. Still, she must be here – somewhere on this world. Whatever that creature was, he's moved her. River -" he pointed to the mountain range they'd just been scrambling over. "Was that always so – molten?"

A river of lava had peaked over the crest and was making its way down the valley towards them. Sulphur leaked into the air as the purple sand turned black around the orange glow. As they watched, the sands changed colour, the purple hue shifting from violet to plum. It turned the savage scene into something undeniably beautiful – and entirely unnatural.

"Are you seeing this?" the Doctor asked, as the world changed before their eyes.

River nodded. "I've read about this. Have you ever heard of Elementals?"

He scoffed. "In Earth mythology."

"No – not Earth. Earth's full of stories and very little fact. I'm talking about creatures that can interact with the elements – like you can feel Time."

"Not in the history books I've read."

"I got lost once, hunting for a library. I ended up a long way in the future. The sky was dark, most of the stars dissolved into dust or cold lumps of lifeless rock. I stumbled upon the ruins of Asparu and the great database of crystal designed to carry the universe's knowledge into the next birth."

"River..." he looked at her very seriously. "You shouldn't have been there. Time energy is unstable at the dawn, weak at dusk – every Time Lord knows not to venture too far either way."

"Accident..." she repeated. "In any case, I did a little reading while I was there."

"Course you did."

"At some point, chemical life reached a new stage of evolution. Many species began to interact with energy – including humans. There were savants – those with an incredible command of the world and yet-"

"Insane. You think we've stumbled on an Elemental?"

"Bad news for us, I'm afraid," River whispered.


	3. Time in a Bubble

**TIME IN A BUBBLE**

"This is _serious _River, I've lost my Tardis!" The Doctor strutted around frantically, leaving circles in the sand. He kept gesturing at the empty spot where the Tardis was meant to be, face aghast. "How can it just be _gone?_"

River eyed the landscape with suspicion. The world was dying but there was something else – it seemed to shiver under her gaze, wavering as though it were fragile even with a burning cascade of fire heading towards them.

"Doctor, for heaven's sake, _stop_."

"But – _my Tardis – _ow!" the Doctor rubbed his cheek where River had slapped him with rather more resolve than usual. "What was that for?"

"Acting like a four year old." River knelt down, sliding her fingers through the sand. She took a handful of the purple granules, holding them up to her eyes for a closer look. They fell through her fingers, slipping onto the air, drifting back to the ground in shimmering stream. It felt real enough.

"What's wrong?" he asked, standing beside her.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, pointing it at the sand left in River's hand. It buzzed.

"Basic sedimentary mix; silicon, quartz, calcium... kinda pretty glittery stuff."

River was distracted. "You must have come across an Elemental in all your travels. Nine-hundred years? Surely _one _has crossed your path?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I've done monsters, humans, talking plants, god of fire, insectoids, Cybermen, Daleks, Starwhales, Weeping Angels, _archaeologists_," he winked at her, "but no Elementals. Sorry – it was on my list, somewhere near Vampires."

"You did vampires."

"...did I?" the Doctor tilted his head. River swore. "Ah – spoilers..."

"Why are you grinning?" she glared.

"Because _spoilers_ means that I make it out of this in mostly one piece," he bounced happily.

"No sweetie – it only means that it's a 'probable' outcome in a universe of infinite outcomes."

Damn River and her time travel semantics. The fire on the ridge burned bright, its molten rock spilling through the ravines which looked like they were made of velvet. A storm gathered on the horizon, lightning ripped underneath the clouds with soft growls of thunder filling the air.

"River... Are Elementals dangerous?" the Doctor asked, still pacing it circles in search of his beloved Tardis.

River reached for the Doctor's hand, clasping it gently. "Well, they're definitely prone to thievery. Come on, we can't stay here – that lava is heading this way."

They started off toward the hills on the other side, scanning the dunes for any hint of the little blue box. Every now and then the Doctor used his screwdriver to scan the surroundings. The Doctor shook it violently, whacking it against his palm when it started making odd sounds.

"It doesn't like this place – can't get a clean signal," he muttered, shaking it a few more times before thrusting it back in his coat. "Do you see anything?"

River was staring at her hand-held device which had seen better days. It was covered in scratches, duct-taped back together where the casing appeared to display bite marks from some past disagreement. "Nothing but sand."

"Where _did _you get that from? They're illegal in thirteen galaxies, you know."

River lofted her eyebrow mischievously. "Same place as the vortex manipulator."

"Also illegal." The Doctor's head fell back. "I _told_ Captain Jack not to go sharing dangerous things with you. Torchwood toys have no place on the wrist of a Timelord."

"Yes..." River drawled. "He mentioned that."

"And?"

"And we both agreed that I was only 'part-Timelord'."

"Typical."

River stumbled, grasping at the Doctor's coat. The world shook again, throwing them both to the sand. An earthquake gripped the land, jarring the bedrock with a violent shaking. River and the Doctor tumbling wildly down the side of a dune, sand flying around them in claws of purple dust.

"Doctor – watch out!" River screamed, as they both hit a lone outcrop of rock. They came to a very sudden halt, bones and flesh jarring into the unforgiving surface. Blonde hair flared over the rock, stained red. "Uh... Ow," she held her head where a nasty gash ran from her eyebrow to her hairline.

"River, are you okay?"

She swore creatively enough to confirm that she was fine. "D – Doctor, what's _that?_"

River pointed back up the slope. There was something falling towards them. Something stolen. Something _blue_.

"That's my Tardis!" The Doctor screamed, pointing frantically at the box rocketing toward them.

"Well don't just lay there – _run!_"

"-but!" He didn't get to finish. River grabbed his hand and yanked him out of the way, both of them rolling off the rock just as the Tardis hit the stone and shattered into a thousand pieces, a blue light consuming the landscape as the ship was torn apart. A stream of time energy poured out of its heart, swirling out into the world in a beautiful, deadly tide of radiation. "River – it's..."

"Dying..." she finished, laying on the sand beside him. "I'm sorry. Truly sorry." River had never seen a Tardis die. Certainly, she'd walked through a Time Graveyard, seen their barren corpses strung out over the land like the skeletons of elephants, locked together in death. This – this was watching the last breath of life fade from someone's eyes.

The Doctor lifted his hand, covering his mouth. His Tardis – his wonderful, stolen, ridiculous little box. She'd survived far worse than this. The greatest war of time and space couldn't shake her and yet here she was, her very soul settling into a layer of gold mist against the ground.

"I'm sorry..." The Doctor's voice wavered.


End file.
